When Hollywood Imitates Wall Street

Staring Ewan McGregor as Nick Leeson and Anna Friel as Lisa Leeson. Directed by James Dearden. Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer gives the film a 33% and an average user rating of 54%.

Rogue Trader is based on the story of Nick Leeson, an ambitious investment broker who, in 1995, singlehandedly bankrupted Barings Bank, one of the oldest and most important banks in Britain.

A lesson in back office compliance: Without a back office team monitoring the accounts and catching unauthorized trades, Leeson did what he could to cover up mistakes and gambled on the markets with the banks funds until his scheme collapsed in 1995. He was imprisoned for six and a half years in Singapore for his crime.

Memorable Quote

Nick Leeson: [voiceover] Despite rumours of secret bank accounts and hidden millions, I did not profit personally from my unlawful trading. To be absolutely honest, sometimes I wish I had.

Becca Lipman is Senior Editor for Wall Street & Technology. She writes in-depth news articles with a focus on big data and compliance in the capital markets. She regularly meets with information technology leaders and innovators and writes about cloud computing, datacenters, ... View Full Bio

"Bankers: First of all, don't cheer in a movie. It's weird. You can laugh, but no cheering. Second, guffawing while Leo attempts to evade federal indictment doesn't exactly help America's perception of your societal value."

I read an article about a screening of the film held downtown for a Wall Street (traders) audience. Evidently they cheered every dispicable & degenerate act portrayed on the screen. The reporter felt this response was more damning of the audience then the film itself. This is a movie where you can project whatever attitudes (greed is good/bad, yea free markets, sex drugs rock & roll, jail the bankers, or whatever) you have on to it.